Unit size: 5 stars
=> I was looking for a smartphone that I can use with one hand (SMS, surfing, etc.) and the well is still in the hand. The outer dimensions should not exceed that of Xperia SP, but the display should be as large as possible. The S4, LG G2 and the Xperia Z and Z1 are the messages I write several times from his hand slipped. The corrugated surface of ZL is comfortably in the hand and it is still the smartphone with the biggest screen in relation to unit size (located even before the LG G2).
Display: 5 stars
=> As everyone knows, resolves the display in Full HD. In addition, it can be manually calibrate white balance settings. When I brought the ZL, this with the other candidates of the same house (Xperia Z and Z1) was not yet possible. As far as I've noticed that, it is also possible after the last software update. This was for me a very important point, because I put a very high value on natural colors or the appearance of colors (the displays from Samsung and LG beams as to oversaturated with natural color reproduction, it has nothing to do.)
The display of the Xperia ZL also had a red cast on me. Here I can only advise everyone, even set the white balance manually. I use a color space DTP94 sensor and the HCFR software for calibration. So I have calibrated the Pioneer plasma at home.
I can not tell you how strongly scatter here the display when Xperia ZL in the factory settings, but are the values of my calibration:
Saturation: 11.0
Hue: 230.0 °
You could try the values with you and if you tapping the screen, you can the difference before / after viewing. As I said from the screen, I'm thrilled. The color display is awesome. The sharpness and contrast are very good. What I can confirm from other users, are the slight deficits in the viewing angle stability compared to the competition. This affects especially if you really with several people want to watch a movie or images. In 99% of cases one uses his smartphone alone and therefore there are no problems here, if one looks at the display alone.
Infrared sensor: 5 stars
At first I thought that it will be just a nice gimmick. But at the Sony app a plethora of devices (also from other manufacturers If are already stored. It took less than an hour and all devices from the whole house were saved. Times a device is not included and any additional functions has, it can be programmed manually will.
Camera: 4.5 stars
The resolution of the camera with 13MP is very high. But that is no guarantee of good pictures. Actually, it was for me only once not so important how well the camera is because of my big hobbies the photograph belongs and I use for these purposes DSLR (Canon 7D) and these also often have actually there. However, I must say that the image quality of the Xperia ZL pleasantly surprised me. The images in daylight are very good. The resolution is very high. Distortion and sharpness drop in the marginal areas adheres very limited. At night or at dusk, it looks a bit different here. Snapshots in automatic mode are then slightly noisy and the white balance does not fit always. If you switch to manual mode, however, and provides everything manually (ISO, focus mode, etc.) are fantastic results also possible here. Positive to mention is of course the hardware trigger for the camera. Whether one uses or not, everyone can still decide yourself, but as an amateur photographer would be particularly about such things.
Power / WLAN: Reception: 5 stars
In one of the reviews I've read that the recipient is the Xperia Z and Z1 also to distinguish and even from network reception should be better than the two mentioned candidates. Even compared to the HTC One recipient in ZL should be better.
A comparison with the two Sony devices can I "still" do not say, but the comparison with the HTC One I could do. My parents live in an area where, according to O2 LTE coverage only outdoors, but is not receiving in buildings. My dad has the HTC One with the same contract and actually at home no LTE network but H +. My ZL shows depending on the 1 or sometimes 2 strokes in the LTE network. To make it clear, we have the SIM card exchanged to plausibility it. The result was the same. This is now perhaps not so important, but it's good to know that the reception is very good.
Walkman / Dust-water protection:
The sound of the external speaker is good to very good. This comes to the natural reproduction a HTC One with stereo speakers not quite, but you can still order even at elevated volume very well listen to music, overdriven without the speakers.
The sound with the accompanying headphones even very good and in the options there are a lot of opportunities to sound by equalizer and DSP program to tune. However, I hear day through the headphones and do they therefore frequently plugging and unplugging. At this point I like to do without the dust and water protection, because I was the fumbling in the business with the covers of the Xperia Z and Z1 annoyed.
Battery / Stamina Mode: 5 Stars
If you use the Stamina mode for optimizing the battery consumption, so I'll be under heavy use (Youtube, surfing, listening to music, take pictures and look at) about 1.5Tage and at moderate usage to 2.5 days from. In the display size you can not complain here.
At the end of yet another couple of points come have noticed very positive to me. This includes the call quality (here can also be helped along in the options so that the sound of the other person and your own voice reproduced in good quality), and processing. The Xperia ZL is "actually" very high quality. On the glass screen and the edges (also covered with glass) can not be faulted. The back of ZL very well is fortunately not of glass but of a rubberized and ribbed plastic surface so that the smartphone in hand. What something negative comes across is the fact that behind the plastic back in the bottom third or above the SIM card and SC-card cover is a small cavity, so that when it a pat on the back it sounds a bit dull and if one presses the back , this can be achieved by pressing due to the cavity. But this holds is very limited. I wanted to mention it for completeness, because here you could have done a bit better actually.
I would also add that I use the Xperia ZL since 4 months and so far had no problems with it. The update to Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) worked perfectly. So far, the phone or the software has crashed and not once or hanged himself. I really just hope that the permanently installed battery lasts very long, because as satisfied as I am with this smartphone, so I was still with no other.
Just buy it !!!
